Pneumatic fire-alarm



4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

No Model.)

A A LEHMANN PNEUMATIC FIRE ALARM.

No. 486,675. Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

4Sheet sSheet 2..'

(No Model.)

' A. A. LEHMANN..

PNEUMATIC FIRE ALARM.

No. 486,675 Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

r mug V I i iil 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

A. A LEHMANN PIIEUMA'I'IG FIRE ALARM.

No. 486,675. Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

4 SheetsE-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

A A LEHMANN PNEUMATIC FIRE ALARM. No. 486,675. Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

NITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ANTHONY A. LEHMANN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

PNEUMATIC FIRE-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,675, dated November22, 1892.

Application filed February 1, 1892. Serial No. 419,865. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTHONY A. LEHMANN, acitizen of the United States,residing at Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Fire-Alarm-TransmittingMechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in pneumaticfire-alarm-transmitting apparatus.

The object of the present invention is to provide mechanism whereby thelowering of an aircup (which is inverted in a liquid) caused by a leakin a pipe which communicates with said air-cup will automatically trip aspring motor or movement for lifting the inverted cup to recharge itwith air, at the same time making provision for the sending in of analarm when the leakage is caused by the opening of a pipe in case offire.

With this end in view the invention may be said to consist in the novelfeatures of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter describedand claimed.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 shows the mechanism set to be tripped by the lowering of theinverted aircup. Fig. 2 shows the lifting movement tripped and about toraise the inverted cup out of the liquid. Fig. 3 shows the position ofthe parts immediately after the cup is lowered again, and alsoillustrates the action in case of fire. This view also shows theclockmovement about to trip the upper latch which is engaging the slide.Fig. 4 is a detail of the mechanism connecting the lifting-movement witha clock-movement, showing the position of the parts immediately afterthe latch has been tripped; Fig. 5, details of a slide for tripping thelifting-movement, one showing a front view with the actuating-springremoved and the other a side or edge view with the said spring attached.Both views show the screws by which the slide is held in place. Fig. 6is a detail top View of the outer end of the lifting-lever.

The letter A designates an air-pipe which runs through the building inwhich the apparatus is located; B, a cylinder into which said pipe opensand which contains a suitable liquid; G, an air-cup inverted over saidstand-pipe and suspended in said liquid; at, an upward-extending stem onsaid air-cup; D, a call-box having a tubular pallet-tail a in which thestem a engages loosely to hold said call-box in check; E, the frame of aspring motor or movement (not shown) which is normally held in check andoperates when released to raise the inverted air-cup for the purpose ofrecharging it with air. A crank H on a shaft of said motor or movementconnects by a link I with a lever G, which engages the stem of theinverted cup in the manner hereinafter described.

The letter F designates a hinged arm for releasing the lifting movement.In the present instance said arm is bent and pivoted at the bend, onearm F extending laterally and having an outward projecting pin 0 at theend.

The outer end of the lever G comprises a frame J, having a slottedcross-bar (I, through which the stem at passes. A plate K is fastened ona cross-shaft e, journaled in said frame, and the stem at passes througha slot fin said plate, extending at right angles to the slot in thecross-bar d. It will be seen the stem a, passing through these twoslots, is properly held and guided. The shaft e pro jects through thelever G, and an arm L is fastened on the projecting part and has aslotted or bifurcated outerend w. A lever L is pivoted at a point 3 nearits middle, to the lifting-lever G and has a pin z at one end, whichengages the slotted end of the arm L and is itself similarly slotted orbifurcated at the opposite end to receive a pin to on an arm of a latchor trigger M, pivoted to the frame E. A vertical slide 0 is arranged onthe frameE and is actuated downward by a spring 9, fastened at one endto a postj on the upper part of the slide and at its opposite end to apost j on the frame E and extending through a slot 7' in the slide. Thelatter has another guide-slot 3' at the upper end engaged by a screwy onthe frame E. The slide has also a notch h in one edge, which is engagedby the latch M. The connections L L are so arranged that their weightbetween the pivotal point y and the shaft e will 'hold the catch Magainst the slide.

Should the inverted air-cup lower by reason of a leak in the pipeA,ashoulder 1', provided at a suitable point on the stem (1, will beardown on the plate K and depress it, which, through the connections L L,releases the latch M from the notch h, whereupon the spring 9 pulls downthe slide 0, which then acts as a hammer and strikes the pin 0 on thearm F, depressing the latter. This releases the liftingmovement bythrowing out the arm F, which has been holding it in check, and the cupis raised out of the liquid in the cylinder to take a fresh supply ofair and lowered again by thetnrning of the crank II, which is revolvedonce by the spring-movement, and then said movement is stopped by thearm F. lVhile the lifting operation takes place the shoulder t' rests onthe plate K and said plate on the crossbar d. The cup in lowering tripsthe latch N before its stem at can leave the pallet-tail a of thecall-box, asillustrated in Fig. 2, and hence an alarm of fire will notbe sent in by reason of a leak.

To provide for sending in an alarm in case of fire, I arrange a secondlatch N, located above the latch M and spring-actuated against theslide, as shown. A notch is made in the slide for this latch N toengage, and this notch is so located that when said latch engages it thelower latch M is relieved of the slide. The lifting-movement on raisingthe cup, as previously explained, also putsin revolution a triple cam P,an arm of which as it revolves engages under the postjon the slide 0 andlifts the latter againsttheaction of the spring g, whereupon the latch Nis thrown into the notch 7r by its spring and supports thesaid slide,leaving the lower notch M free, as in Fig.

a. Now if the loweringof the cup was brought about by the opening ofapipe caused by fire,

when there would be a large opening, the aircnp will immediately loweragain and the shoulder 2' will push the plate K all the way down withoutsetting off the lifting-movement, which action draws the stem (1 out ofthe pallet-tail a, releasing the call-box D, which sends in the alarm,as illustrated in Fig. 3. To again set the lifting-movement, so that itwill be ready to act when the air-cup again lowers by reason of theleak, I provide the following mechanism: An ordinary clockmovement Q isprovided, which has a disk R with a number of teeth 1. A lever S ispivoted to the frame of the clock-movement at m, and its lower end has apin a, which is held by a spring (not shown) against the periphery ofthe disk R. The upper end of said lever S has a pin 0, which extendsover a rearward-projecting arm N of the latch N. Said arm has a raisedpart 0 at its outer end and a catch 19, pivoted to one side andprojecting above said raised part 0. This catch is held up against aping by a spring 7. The disk R is so timed that one of its teeth Z willpass under the pin a, say, every five minutes. Immediately after themovement has lifted the air-cup the latch N takes the slide 0 and holdsit, as previously explained; but as soon as the disk R turnssufficiently to allow the pin a to drop behind one of its teeth Z thepin 0 at the upper end of the lever flies back against the projectingend of the catch 19, thereby throwing the latch Nout of the notch 7c andallowing the slide 0 to drop and be taken and held by the latch M readyto be released by the lowering of the stem a. The downward movement ofthe latch-arm N on its pivot brings the pin 0 on the outer side of thecatch 1.), (see Figs. 1, 2, and 4,) so that it will not obstruct thelatch N in returning immediately to engagement with the slide. As thedisk R continues to revolve the pin 01 is pushed outward by riding overthe inclined edge of the following tooth, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Thismoves the pin 0 at the upper end back over the catch 1), which it pushesout of its path against the spring 1', so that it may again fly backagainst the catch and release the latch N when the pin a at the lowerend drops behind the tooth of the time-disk.

It will be seen that with my mechanism,as above described, thelifting-movement will always be tripped if the pipe is opened, and ifthis opening is simply a leak no alarm will be sent in, but the cup willbe raised out of the liquid and resupplied with air, whereas if theopening is caused by a fire and is consequently a large opening an alarmwill be sent in.

It is obvious that the construction and arrangcment of parts here shownis susceptible of numerous changes, and hence I am not confined to suchconstruction and arrangement, but consider myself entitled to allvariations which come within the scope of theinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In pneumatic tire-alarm -transmitting mechanism, the combination ofan air-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicatingwith said air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, and meansfor automatically tripping said movement by the lowering of the air-cup.

2. In pneumatic fire-alarm-transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup in verted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicatingwith said air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, a hammer totrip the said movement, a trigger checking said hammer, and meanswhereby the lowering of the air-cup operates said trigger to release themovement.

In pneumatic fire-alarm transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicating withsaid air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-c up, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air,a hammer totrip the said movement, a trigger checking said hammer, a pivoted ICCplate adapted to be depressed as the cup lowers, and suitable connectionbetween said plate and the trigger, whereby the depression of the formercauses the release of the latter.

4. In pneumatic firealarm-transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid and having asuitable stem, anair-conduit communicating with said air-cup, a call-box governed by saidaircup, a movement for operating a lever which raises the air-cup outofthe liquid to recharge it with air, a hammer to trip the said movement,a trigger checking said hammer, a plate pivoted to the lever of thelifting movement and adapted to be engaged by a shoulder on the stem ofthe air-cup, whereby itis depressed, and suitable connections betweensaid plate and the releasing-trigger, whereby the depression of theformer causes the release of the said trigger.

5. In pneumatic fire-alarmtransmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid and having a suitable stem, an ar-conduit communicating with said air-cup, a call-box governed by saidaircup, a movement for operating a lever which raises the air-cup out ofthe liquid to recharge it with air, said lever comprisinga frame with aslotted cross-bar through which the stem of the air-cup passes, a hammerto trip the said movement, a trigger checking the said hammer, a plateon a shaft journaled in the frame of the lifting-lever, said plateslotted to receive the stem of the air-cup, which stem has a shoulderabove the plate, and suitable connections between the said plate and thetrigger, whereby the latter is released by the depression of the plate.

6. In pneumatic fire-alarm-transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicating withsaid air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup,a movement for liftingsaid cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, a spring-actuatedslide serving as a hammer to trip the said movement, a. pivoted latch toengage and hold said slide, a plate adapted to be depressed as theair-cup lowers, levers connecting said plate, and the pivoted latch tocause the release of the latter, and means actuated by the liftingmovement for returning the slide after it has tripped the movement.

7. In pneumatic fire-alarm-transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduitcommunicating withsaid air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, aspring-actuated slide serving as a hammer to trip the said movement, apivoted latch to engage and hold said slide, a plate adapted to bedepressed as the air-cup lowers, levers connecting said plate and thepivotedlatch to cause the release of the latter, and an arm on a shaftin gear with the lifting movement, said arm to engage a post projectingfrom the slide, and thereby return the slide after it has tripped themovement.

8. In pneumatic firealarm -transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduitcommunicating withsaid air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup outof the liquid to recharge it with air, means fortripping said movement by the lowering of the air-cup, and timemechanism for holding the movement directly after it has acted to permitan alarm of tire to be transmitted.

9. In pneumatic fire alarm transmitting mechanism, the combination of anair-cup in verted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicatingwith said air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, aspring-actuated slide serving as ahammer to trip the said movement, apivoted latch to engage and hold said slide and be released by thelowering of the air-cup, means for returning said slide after it hastripped the movement, a second latch to take the slide when it is thusreturned and hold it, and time mechanism for throwing out said secondlatch and allowing the other latch to take the slide.

10. In pneumatic fire-alarm-transmitting mechanism,the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicating withsaid air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, aspring-actuated slide serving as a hammer to trip the said movement, apivoted latch to engage and hold said slide and be released by thelowering of the air-cup, means for returning said slide after it hastripped the movement, a second latch to take the slide when it is thusreturned and hold it, a clock-movement having a toothed time-disk, and alever engaging said disk at one end and the said second latch at theopposite end, whereby as the disk revolves said lever is actuated torelease said latch from the slide.

11. In pneumatic fire-alarm-transmitting meehanism,the combination of anair-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicating withsaid air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup, a movement forlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, aspring-actuated slide serving as a hammer to trip the said movement,apivoted latch to engage and hold said slide and be released by thelowering of the air-cup, means for returning said slide after it hastripped the movement, asecondlatch to take the slide when it is thusreturned and hold it, a clockmovement having a toothed time-disk, and aspring-actuated lever having a pin at one end engaging the periphery ofthe time-disk and a pin at the opposite end extending over an arm of thesaid second latch and adapted to strike a projection on said arm andrelease the latch when the pin at the opposite end of the lever dropsbehind a tooth of the timedisk, substantially as described.

12. In pneumatic fire-alarm-transmittint: mechanism, the combination ofan air-cup inverted in a suitable liquid, an air-conduit communicatingwith said air-cup, a call-box governed by said air-cup,aniovementforlifting said cup out of the liquid to recharge it with air, aspring-actuated slide serving as a hammer to trip the said movement, apivoted latch to engage and hold said slide and be released by thelowering of the air-cup, means for returning said slide after it hastripped the movement, a second latch to take the slide when it is thusreturned and hold it, a clock-movement having a toothed time-disk,

and a spring-actuated lever having a pin at one end engagiiie theperiphery of the timedisk and a pin at the opposite end extending overan arm of the said second latch and adapted to strike a projection inthe form of a spring-held catch pivoted to the said arm, and therebyrelease the latch when the pin at the opposite end of the lever dropsbehind a tooth of the time-disk, the said pivoted projection moving outof the path of the leveron the return movement of the latter.

In testimony whereof I affix mysignatu re in the presence of twowitnesses.

ANTHONY A. LEIIMANN. Witnesses:

F. PARKER DAVIS, he '1. MADDoX.

